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Talk:Campbell Saunders/@comment-7739778-20130403011525/@comment-3122348-20130403143302
I think there are two ways to look at it. One way is to see it as selfish, and the other is to view the individuals who want to stop the other person from committing suicide as selfish. The motivation behind the individual's suicide is key to ascribing selfishness. If it's a quick and poorly reasoned decision made for all the wrong reasons (revenge, spite, contempt, etc.), I'd say it qualifies as selfish. If the person has rationally thought it out and feels that it's necessary, then those who want to interfere are the selfish ones. What right do they have to stake a claim over someone else's life? Wanting someone to exist unhappily merely because you don't want to experience the loss is inherently selfish. I believe in choice. I don't believe in a specific higher power (I'm atheist but respectful of religion), so I don't see suicide as a sin. I'm not even sure if I see life as being handed to you by someone/something special. If you are tired of living and want to end your life, that's up to you. I don't think anyone else should get to have any say in that. If someone is truly tired of living and wants to stop, that's up to them. I guess they should consider the people in their life and how they'd feel, but honestly, if someone is so tired of living that they can't stand it any longer and are only living to please other people, it's almost selfish of everyone else for keeping that person around when they are clearly in pain and anguish. I'm not pro-suicide by any means. I just don't believe in condemning every person who's committed suicide. It's a dark and complicated topic, and I don't think that it's right to write them all off as selfish and/or cowardly in nature like the OP suggests. The only time I could see it being selfish is if a person killed themselves when they had a large responibility....like if they were taking care of someone else (a parent taking care of a child, etc.). Suicide of a parent should be viewed no better or worse than abandoning your children simply by leaving, which is to say, pretty bad. Having children is an implicit acceptance of the moral responsibility for them until they are adults. You are not beholden to just yourself if you have children in your care. My concern with this would be in regards to the extreme cases where an unstable parent is already causing significant distress to their child. Particularly if it is spilling over into violently abusive or neglectful patterns of behaviour. In such cases, the line at which we can draw moral condemnation of suicide blurs. Would the actual act of suicide be any worse for the children than continued abuse? Of course, this also raises the very uncomfortable question of whether or not some children of very unstable and abusive parents are actually better off without them around, regardless of how that occurs. Admittedly, I cringe at the thought of this, but it's a very real possibility. If you can find an instance where this holds true, making blanket moral judgments becomes very difficult, and again, the specific circumstances surrounding the act will play a huge role in how it's judged. Saying that kind of makes me sound like I'm contradicting myself about not living for other people. I don't know. I guess that just further proves how complicated this subject is. If you ever want an A+ in a contradictory statement, come to mama.